Ko Shogi (Wide Shogi)

Le Kô Shogi (Le Shogi
élargi)

Also known as Wide Elephant Chess,
this is the most recent of all large Shogi
variants. Nevertheless, it is by far the less known and documented.
The reason may be that Ko Shogi has very peculiar characteristics
which differ notably from other games of this family.

Ko Shogi is played over intersections and not
over spaces. The pieces are round and not wedge-shaped. As a matter
of fact, Ko Shogi is a Chess game played on a real Go-bang. (Which is not the case of Maka Dai Dai Shogi by the way!).

Also, replacement is not the only way to capture.
Pieces can "shoot" as well!

The board is the 19x19 Go-ban using circular
pieces on its points. The (90) White pieces are written with black
characters. The (90) Black pieces are written with White characters.
On the back side of each piece, written in red, is the characters
of promotion.

There are 34 sorts of different pieces. They
are mainly named from military characters. The "royal"
piece is a General whose capture is the goal of the game. If the
Middle Army and Banner are still in play, when the General is captured,
the game continues. The Middle Army promotes to Master, and acts
as the General. But, if both the Banner and General are captured,
it does not promote and the game is over.

The six ranks of the starting position form the
promotion zones. Captured pieces are removed from the game, there
is no drops.

Apparently several pieces can "shot",
i.e. they can capture at distance, up to five an enemy piece without
moving from their position. They cannot shot a piece which is beyond
another. Two pieces, Cannon and Cannon Chariot, can even shot friend
and foe pieces at once. Then, there is a clearly distinction between
capture and shoot. Capturing is done by occupying the position
of the enemy piece. Shooting is done after a move through
vacant points, without moving from the destination point, the piece
remains on the position and the enemy at a distance is removed.

Other pieces have their move which can be split
into two parts. They can change direction and capture on each parts.
Also, it is possible to stop on the first part.

Indeed, some promotion rules are complicated
: a piece which captures either the General, Middle Army or Banner
can then promote whether or not it is in the promotion zone. A piece
which captures either the Wrestler, Dragon Awakening, Summoning
Tremble or Thundering Lightning can advance one point if this immediately
results in its promotion. The Horse Soldier promotes when it captures
the French Wolf Table. When the Scribe becomes the Master-at-Arms,
Forward Defense and the Rearguard promote simultaneously.

The complete rules are not available yet. A Japanese
description has been recently transcript and is the object of work
by L. Lynn Smith, Lex Kraaijeveld and Gregory Sears.

More will be posted here if the reconstruction
work by experts progresses.

HISTORY
and recent developments:

Developed from Go, it can be considered as a
form of Shogi. Although, it is a Shogi of an unusual nature. Ko
(or Wide) Shogi is said to have been invented by the Confucian scholar
Ogyu Sorai (1666-1728) apparently as a conscious derivative of Xiangqi,
Chinese chess.

Another name is Chinese and is Wide Elephant
Chess, or Yan Xiangqi. The pieces are round and move in ways not
seen in Shogi, Japanese chess. It should be mentioned that there
is a tradition that the game actually did originate in China, invented
by Chao Wuchiu (1033-1110) (=Zhao Buzhi
(1053-1110)?).

So Ko Shogi or Yan Xiangqi? In another word,
is that game Japanese or Chinese, this is the question. To my (present)
opinion, this game has a Chinese flavor, but it is a flavor only.
It is true that there are shooting pieces, one is even called a
Cannon, and that recalls the Xiangqi's Pao. There are pieces stepping
up to 5 points and that also recalls some pieces with limited moves
in Qiguo Xiangqi (7-Handed Xiangqi)
also played on a Go-ban. However, neither in Xiangqi nor in Qiguo
Xiangqi the Cannons, Catapults or Bowmen do not shoot without from
far, without moving, like in Ko Shogi.

Personally, I see more resemblance with Tenjiku
Shogi which also has "range jumping" pieces moving
like Xiangqi's Pao and which has "area move" piece very
similar to the multiple move pieces present here. The "royal"
piece in Ko Shogi is a General who moves exactly like in Shogi,
not with the limited move of Xiangqi nor the Queen-type move of
the General in Qiguo Xiangqi. Also, among the Ko Shogi pieces there
is a Master who promotes to a Middle Army who in turn, acts as a
second General which must also be captured. This is exactly the
principle ruling the Drunk Elephant in several large Shogi variants.

The starting arrangement is not symmetric. Non-symmetry
is also found in Dai Dai Shogi and Tai Shogi. Finally, the promotion
concept is that of several Shogi variants (Shogi, Chu Shogi, Tenjiku
Shogi,...). I am not aware of any promotion in Qiguo Xiangqi. Clearly
this needs more research.

Many thanks to L. Lynn Smith, Lex Kraaijeveld and Gregory
Sears from whom I borrowed all elements presented here.

References:

John Fairbairn, "Shogi History ... and the Variants",
9-12, Shogi, 27, Sept. 1980.